System and method for managing and monitoring the dispensing of fuels

ABSTRACT

A fuel management system for use by operators of temporary and/or permanent inventories of vehicles such as vehicle dealerships. Fuel vouchers are issued by authorized issuing personnel to authorized recipients if a validation procedure is passed using a database incorporating employee and vehicle inventory information. At the time of delivery, the fueling station will verify the vehicle and individual presenting the voucher. If verification occurs, the authorized quantity of fuel is dispensed. The voucher and sales receipt are returned to the dealership for future auditing and report generation. The system stores information to enable reports to be generated concerning fuel voucher issuance, actual fuel usage and to detect fraud or misuse, allowing more effective fuel expense management. In the event a report generates a fraud alert, appropriate management personnel are immediately notified by email, text messaging or other means.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional Patent Application of U.S. Pat. No.8,267,317, issued Sep. 18, 2012, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/008,982 filed Dec. 20, 2007, thecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. This applicationis related to co-pending U.S. Divisional patent application Ser. No.13/560,956, filed Jul. 27, 2012 which is a Divisional Patent Applicationof U.S. Pat. No. 8,267,317, issued Sep. 18, 2012.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a system and method for managing thedispensing of fuels to inventoried fleet vehicles and non-inventoriedvehicles at a fueling location which provides validation, issuance ofvouchers, auditing, reporting and indicators to control fraud andunauthorized fuel delivery.

BACKGROUND

Owners and operators of fleet vehicles such as vehicle dealerships oftenhave programs which allow vehicles to be fueled at offsite authorizedrefueling stations. A problem common to these dealerships is themanagement and control of fuel delivery so that fuel is delivered onlyto authorized vehicles, authorized drivers and in authorized quantities.If effective controls are not in place, abuses and fraud may occuradding substantially to the fuel costs of the dealership operators,particularly in view of today's high fuel costs.

Various systems can be found in the prior art which are intended tomonitor and control the delivery of fuel at offsite refueling stations.These systems include use of identifying bar codes or RFID tagsassociated with vehicles which are to be refueled. Other systems willrequire the entry of a PIN number for processing via point-of-saleauthorization controller. However, most of these systems are not fullyeffective as they do not provide validation and confirmation prior toand at the time of fuel delivery along with features such as auditingand reporting for administration and fraud detection. Further, thesesystems do not adequately provide for controls as to both inventoriedand non-inventoried vehicles.

SUMMARY

Briefly, the present invention provides a fuel management system forvehicle dealerships which have a number of vehicles which requirefueling at an authorized, offsite fueling location. The systemadditionally provides fuel management for inventoried vehicles as wellas non-inventoried vehicles, as for example, vehicles at the dealershipfor maintenance.

The present system is a computer-based system which receives informationand data concerning the authorized vehicles to be refueled, authorizedissuers, and authorized recipients. This data can be extracted from thedealership's computerized management system or may be manually entered.An authorized individual or issuer can log onto the system and initiatethe fuel voucher generation process. The issuer enters the appropriateinformation such as the vehicle stock or VIN number, vehicle mileage, aswell as the identification of the individual recipient of the voucher. Apurchase limit may also be imposed. If the validation requirements arepassed, a fuel voucher will be issued and be given to the authorizedrecipient.

The recipient of the voucher will then proceed to redeem the voucher ata designated fueling station. At the time of delivery, the stationattendant will confirm the validity of the voucher, verify that thevehicle is the vehicle indicated on the voucher for refueling andconfirm the identity of the recipient. Once validation is complete, thefuel station attendant redeems the voucher for an amount not exceedingthe approved amount appearing on the voucher. The fuel voucher receipt,along with the purchase receipt, is returned to the dealership forauditing.

The fuel management delivery system of the present invention alsoprovides fuel voucher and gas receipt auditing. An auditor may accessthe system and scan or hand enter the bar coded fuel voucher number andthe fuel charge from the fuel station receipt. The system verifies thevoucher number is correct and indicates whether the voucher haspreviously been audited. If the voucher meets the verification criteria,the system stores this information for future reference and reporting.Information stored in the system can then be utilized to provideperiodic reports on fuel voucher issuances and actual fuel usage. Thesereports can be filtered by department, issuer, recipient fueled, vehicleor an arbitrary reference number. Additionally, reports are available ina graphical representation, as well as specific reports that use analgorithm for searching data designed to locate potential fraud ormisuse, such as multiple fills per stock number, non-stock fueledvehicles, out-of-sequence mileage and fuel costs exceeding an authorizedamount.

Access to the information stored in the fuel management system isavailable to authorized individuals of the dealership such as asupervisor, management and accounting personnel. Users authorized toissue vouchers, conduct audits or generate reports are updated on anas-needed basis by the dealership's management. The fuel managementsystem is periodically updated to maintain the current list ofauthorized vehicles and authorized recipients.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other advantages and objects of the present invention willbecome more apparent when taken in conjunction with the followingdescription, claims and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating the system overview of the fuelmanagement system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustrating customer data acquisition in the fuelmanagement system of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrating the validation and fuel vouchergeneration in accordance with the fuel management system of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing fuel voucher verification andredemption;

FIG. 5 is an alternate method of fuel voucher verification redemptionaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating fuel voucher and gas receiptauditing procedures;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustrating the reporting features of the fuelmanagement system of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic showing the overall administration of the fuelmanagement system of the present invention;

FIG. 9A illustrates a representative fuel voucher for a permanent stockvehicle; and

FIG. 9B illustrates a representative fuel voucher for an inventoryvehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an overview of the fuelmanagement system of the present invention. The fuel management systemis intended for use by operators having temporary and/or permanentinventories of vehicles, such as a vehicle dealership or fleet. Vehicledealerships must fuel three classes of vehicles: (1) Permanent stockwhich consists of a small permanent fleet of fixed asset vehicles, suchas courtesy vans, parts-transport trucks and various other fueledvehicles for the day-to-day operations; (2) Stock vehicles which consistvehicles in inventory, which stock is temporary and turns over; and (3)Non-stock vehicles which are non-inventoried vehicles, such as vehiclesthat have arrived at the dealership and have not yet been entered asstock inventory in the dealership's management system and vehiclesplaced at the dealership for maintenance purposes. The collective listof stock vehicles and permanent stock vehicles is known as the“Inventory.” “Non-stock issues converted to stock” refers to fuelvoucher issues that were originally issued to vehicles that had not yetbeen entered into to the customer's computerized management system, butrequired fuel. However, once these vehicles enter into the dealership'scomputerized management system, these non-stock fuel voucher issuesconvert, automatically during periodic data extraction or manual upload,to stock issues in the fuel management system. Because dispensing offuel to non-dealership owned vehicles warrants additional attention,this conversion of non-stock vehicles establishes that these fuelvouchers were, in fact, issued to non-dealership owned vehicles duringreporting methods.

Vehicle dealerships and fleet operators are representative of the typeof operator that would utilize the system of the present invention. Theterm “dealership” is used herein to describe the system since the systemhas primary application to such operations but it is understood that theterm “dealership” includes any business entity having permanent andnon-permanent vehicle inventory which entity must manage fuel dispensingsuch as fleet operators, contractors, trucking companies and the like.An “issuer” refers to an employee or other individual who utilizes thesystem to issue a fuel voucher. A “recipient” refers to an individual,such as an employee, to whom a voucher for fuel to be purchased isissued. The compilation of valid recipients resides in the “activeemployee list.” There are multiple levels of administrative privilegesin the system. An “auditing user” or a “reconciling user” is anadministrator authorized to reconcile fuel station receipts to issuedvouchers. A “reporting user” is an administrator authorized to generatereports from stored information in the system for the purpose ofaccounting, fuel usage analysis, and the detection of misappropriationor fraud. An “administrative user” has all administrative privileges,including the ability to add or edit issuers and issuer privileges, addor edit auditing users, add or edit reporting users, and add or editother administrative users.

The fuel management system 10 utilizes dealership data 12 to validateand generate fuel vouchers 14 by authorized administration 16. Once thevouchers 14 are verified, they are redeemed at 18. The system providesfor auditing at 2 and issuance of various input at 24.

As seen in FIG. 2, the present invention is a computer based system thatstores and utilizes several types of data.

Certain classes of data are periodically updated for use in theverification and validation procedures. The stock vehicle list and theactive employee list are regularly updated, such as daily, either byautomated extraction from the dealership's computerized managementsystem 26, or by manual upload to the fuel management system at 28. Whenvehicles are sold or otherwise removed from the dealership's inventorydatabase the corresponding entry is removed from the fuel managementsystem. Likewise, if a valid recipient, such as an employee, isterminated or separates from the organization, as reflected in thedealership's employee database, the employee is removed from the fuelmanagement system's active employee list. Information stored for stockvehicles includes stock number, VIN (vehicle identification number), andother indicia such as vehicle manufacturer, vehicle model, year ofmanufacture, and vehicle color. Information stored for valid recipientsincludes full name and employee ID number or driver's license number.

Other types of data 28 are updated on an as-needed basis; the permanentstock list, issuers, auditing users, reporting users, and administrativeusers fall into this category and may be manually entered into thesystem 10. The present invention provides interactive computer consolesfor administrative users of the fuel management system to enable them tomake these updates. Information stored for the permanent stock listincludes identifying stock number, VIN (vehicle identification number),and other indicia such as vehicle manufacturer, vehicle model, year ofmanufacture, and vehicle color. Information stored for issuers includesthe individual's full name, employee ID, user name, password, whetherthe user is authorized to issue fuel vouchers. If the issuer isauthorized, the maximum dollar amount per issued fuel voucher andmaximum number of fuel voucher issues per day is set forth as well asthe department of the issuer.

Referring to FIG. 3, an authorized issuer 30 logs into system andinitiates the fuel voucher generation process using an assigned userlogin name and password. The system initially at 32 confirms the personlogging on is authorized to issue fuel vouchers. As a safeguard, anadministrative user may establish a periodic fuel voucher allotment forindividual issuers. Accordingly, the system will next validate that theissuer has not exceeded fuel voucher allotment for the designated periodof time. If the individual issuer passes the validation process, thevoucher issuing procedure continues. If the issuer fails to pass thevalidation, the issuer must logout. Assuming that the issuer passes thevalidation process at 34, the issuer will then indicate whether thevehicle is a stock vehicle or a non-stock vehicle at step 36.

If the vehicle is a stock vehicle, the issuer will proceed by enteringthe vehicle stock number, the vehicle mileage and identifying the fuelvoucher recipient and the maximum dollar amount to be issued at 38. Thefuel voucher to be issued is validated at 40 that the vehicle stocknumber is in inventory. The identification of the recipient will also bevalidated confirming that the recipient is authorized to receive andredeem vouchers and that the dollar amount to be issued does not exceedthe issuer's voucher limit. If the validation process is passed at 42,the issuer is presented with a verification screen at 44 showing recentvoucher issues for the particular vehicle stock number. The individualissuer is then given the option at 48 to issue a fuel voucher or notissue a fuel voucher based on user policies and directives regardingmultiple fuel purchasers for a stock vehicle. If the issuer determinesnot to issue the fuel voucher, the issuer logs out. If the validationprocess has been passed and the issuer opts to issue a voucher, theissuer proceeds and a fuel voucher is issued to the recipient at 50. Thedata is stored and the issuer is logged out at 52. At this point, theauthorized recipient is in possession of a fuel voucher for the purchaseof a pre-determined quantity of fuel at a remote offsite fuelingstation. Representative fuel vouchers 54, 56 are shown in FIGS. 9A and9B.

Referring to FIG. 3, if the voucher is to be issued for a non-stockvehicle, additional information is required at 56. The issuer mustidentify and validate the individual fuel voucher recipient along with adollar amount of fuel to be issued at 60. The issuer must also enterappropriate information relating to vehicle identification such as allor a portion of the VIN number of the non-stock vehicle and otherinformation such as the vehicle mileage, manufacturer, model and color,along with a reason for issuing a fuel voucher to a non-stock vehicle,such as the non-stock vehicle has not yet entered inventory or belongsto someone other than dealership, but is authorized per dealershippolicy for fueling. In order to encourage compliance and minimizeabuses, the dealership may assess penalties such as monetary penaltiesif information entered into the validation process is inaccurate or ifan individual attempts to subvert the system in order to obtain anunauthorized fuel voucher. In the case of a non-stock vehicle if thevalidation process is passed at 60, the issuer will be presented with averification screen showing all of the vouchers issued for theparticular stock number. A fuel voucher will be issued if validation ispassed at 64 and the data entered is stored and the issuer is logged outat 52. At this point, the authorized recipient is in possession of afuel voucher for the purchase of a pre-determined quantity of fuel at adesignated offsite fueling station. A representative fuel voucher for astock vehicle is shown in FIG. 9A and a representative fuel voucher foran inventory vehicle is shown in FIG. 9B. Preferably, the vouchers areprinted by specialty printers using tamper-resistant, adhesively-backedstock.

The recipient will then proceed to drive the vehicle to a fuelingstation to obtain fuel. The fuel voucher verification redemptionprocedure is shown in FIG. 4. The voucher recipient will present a fuelvoucher to the attendant at a designated fuel station at 70. Theattendant will verify certain information at 72 such as the vehicle bycolor, model, manufacturer, VIN or other identifying information. Theidentity of the recipient presenting the fuel voucher will also beconfirmed at 74 using suitable identification such as a state issueddriver's license with a photo or employee badge bearing a photograph ofthe employee. If the verification procedure is not passed, the fuelstation attendant will refuse to redeem the fuel voucher. If visualverification has been made by the attendant, the next step in theverification process occurs. In the system of FIG. 4, the fuel voucher,such as voucher 54, is provided with a bar code 75 which can be read bya scanning system at the fueling station. The scanning system willconfirm the fuel voucher is valid and has not expired. In addition, theattendant will also scan the identification card presented by thevoucher recipient to confirm the identity of the individual to whom thefuel voucher was issued. The scanning system 76 will log the validationas successful or failed to the fuel management system. The scanningsystem 76 will also notify the attendant of the validation success orfailure at 80. If the scanning system indicates a successful validationat 82, the fuel station attendant will redeem the voucher at 84 up tothe dollar amount indicated on the voucher. If the validation proceduresperformed by the scanning system indicates an error or failure, the fuelstation attendant will refuse to redeem the fuel voucher. In the eventfuel is delivered, the fuel station attendant will then attach the fuelvoucher to the back of the fuel receipt, preferably using an adhesivebacking provided on the voucher as shown in 86. The fuel voucher andreceipt is returned to the dealership, preferably on a daily basis forauditing and reporting purposes.

FIG. 5 shows an alternate fuel voucher verification and redemptionprocedure. Again, the fuel voucher recipient will present the fuelvoucher at the designated approved fueling station at 90. At thestation, the attendant will be given the fuel voucher and the attendantwill visually identify the vehicle by color, model, manufacturer, model,VIN or other appropriate identifying information and confirm that thevehicle is the vehicle identified on the voucher as seen at 92. Thestation employee will also confirm that the individual recipientpresenting the voucher is, in fact, authorized to redeem the voucher byconfirming identification using the recipient's photo ID, driver'slicense or other identification such as an employee badge bearing therecipient's photo, name and badge number. If the vehicle and therecipient conform to the information on the fuel voucher, the fuelattendant will redeem the voucher for fuel not exceeding the dollaramount indicated on the voucher at 94. If the verification check is notpassed, the attendant will refuse to redeem the voucher. In the eventthe voucher is redeemed and fuel delivered, the fuel attendant at 96will attach the fuel voucher to the fuel receipt, preferably using theadhesive provided on the fuel voucher covered by a peelable backing 55.The fuel voucher and attached receipt is returned by the refuelingstation to the dealership, preferably on a daily basis for auditing andreporting purposes at 98.

Referring now to FIG. 6, fuel voucher auditing will generally beperformed by an auditor, a member of management personnel or anindividual in accounting. Those auditors authorized to access andinitiate the auditing process will be identified in the administrationdatabase. The auditor will logon to the system and initiate an auditingprocess at 100. The auditor will have been provided fuel vouchersreceived from the authorized fueling station. The auditor will then scanor hand-enter the coded fuel voucher number at 102. The auditingproceeds at 104 with the auditor entering the total fuel charges andgallons purchased on the receipt received from the fueling station. Ifthe fuel management system 10 is configured to utilize additionalreference fields at 106, the auditor may enter an additional referencenumber at 108. The auditing proceeds with verification at 110 confirmingthe fuel voucher number is valid and indicating whether the fuel voucherhas been previously audited. If the verification is passed at 112, thefuel management system stores the information at 114 for futurereporting. If an error during the verification process is noted andverification fails, the system notifies the auditor of the failedverification. If the failure appears to be a result of an improperentry, the auditor may retry the audit procedure again scanning orhand-entering the fuel voucher number and the fuel charge.

The fuel management system 10 of the present invention may be used toprovide a number of detailed reports for accounting, fuel usage andfraud detection purposes. Referring to FIG. 7, the information obtainedin the issuing of fuel vouchers, fuel delivery, and reconciliationduring auditing process, is stored at 120 in the system and is availablefor reporting, accounting, analysis, and automated fraud detection.

Basic reporting may be sorted and/or filtered by any field of sorting at122 such as date/time issued, date/time reconciled, voucher ID, issuer,employee number, stock number, VIN, amount issued, amount reconciled,make, model, color, optional reference fields, gallons, dispensed andvehicle mileage. All information is stored by the fuel management systemand used to generate pre-defined reports as well as user-defined reports125. The results of reporting queries may be displayed in text,graphical format, or results may be delivered in additional formatssuited for other software or systems. The reporting may includesummaries by department or other operating divisions at 126 and by otherreports as shown at 132, 134 and 136.

The fuel management system 10 of the present invention automaticallydetects indicators of fraud or misuse at 126 through several algorithmsdesigned to search for these indicators in the data stored in the fuelmanagement system. The operator is notified of these indicators throughexplicitly generated reports and/or active notification methods such asemail, text messaging or other means of electronic notification. Theseindicators, such as exceeding a dealership-established threshold ofmultiple fills to a single stock vehicle, vouchers issued without-of-sequence mileage entries, reconciled fuel station receipts whichexceed the dollar amount of the associated fuel voucher, or fuelvouchers issued to non-stock vehicles that exceed the time limit toconvert to stock issues, are designed to significantly increase customerefficiency and effectiveness in policing fuel theft or misappropriation.

The following are representative reports that are available to adealership using the data collected and stored by the fuel managementsystem 10 of the present invention. Fraud indicators are an importantfeature in monitoring fuel costs and deterring misuse.

1. Fraud Indicator: Multiple Fills Per Stock Number

There are two standard practices that dealerships follow when fuelinginventory vehicles. The first practice is to completely fill the vehicleupon entry into inventory followed by a subsequent topping-off of thetank at the time of delivery to the customer. An alternative practice isto put a minimum of fuel in the vehicle when the inventory is received,followed by a complete fill at the time of delivery to the customer.Depending on the method used and the number of times a given vehicle isdemonstrated to a customer, a standard deviation of fills-per-vehiclecan be derived. The multiple fills per stock number fraud indicatorallows dealership management to establish a threshold offills-per-vehicle consistent for that dealership's practices. In theevent the threshold is exceeded, an exception is generated by thesystem. An active alert immediately notifies management of theoccurrence of an exception and includes a complete fuel history for theparticular stock number. Additionally, a report is available on demandshowing all of the exceptions and fuel histories for those exceptionsthat occur within a given time period.

2. Fraud Indicator: Unconvertible Non-Stock Issues

As previously mentioned, standard practices and procedures often resultin situations in which vehicles requiring fuel have not yet been enteredas stock items into the dealership's computerized management system.Non-stock issues that are not converted to stock issues within apreestablished time period are considered “unconvertible non-stockissues.” These exceptions warrant additional scrutiny to ensure thelegitimacy of the fuel issuance and to assist in the proper enforcementof the dealership's policy. The unconvertible non-stock issues fraudindicator provides detailed information on unconvertible non-stockissues to the dealership. Active alerting methods periodically notifymanagement when non-stock issues become unconvertible. Additionally, areport is available on demand that shows all of the unconvertiblenon-stock issues occurring within a given time period.

3. Fraud Indicator: Out-of-Sequence Mileage

When an issuer issues a fuel voucher, current mileage of the vehicle tobe fueled is entered into the fuel management system. Theout-of-sequence mileage fraud indicator searches the vehicle's fuelhistory of the vehicle to be fueled to verify that the reported mileagehas been sequentially recorded. Should inconsistencies exist, this is a“flag” that an improper issuance has been requested or is beingrequested and an exception is generated. Active alert methodsimmediately notify management of the exception and will include acomplete fuel history for that stock number. Additionally, a report isavailable on demand that shows all of the exceptions and fuel historiesfor those exceptions occurring within a given time period.

4. Fraud Indicator: Total Dollar Amount Per Stock Number ExceedsThreshold

As mentioned above, there are standard practices that dealerships followto fuel vehicles in inventory. The first involves a complete fillingupon receiving the inventory with a subsequent topping-off of the tankat the time of delivery to the customer. An alternative practice is toput a minimum of fuel in the vehicle when the vehicle is received ininventory, followed by a complete fill at the time of delivery to thecustomer. Depending on the dealership's practice and the number of timesa given vehicle is demonstrated, a standard deviation of total dollarsissued per vehicle can be derived. The total dollar amount per stocknumber exceeds threshold fraud indicator allows dealership management toestablish a threshold of total dollars issued per vehicle appropriatewith that dealership's practices. In the event this threshold isexceeded, an exception is generated. Active alert methods immediatelynotify management of the exception and include a complete fuel historyfor the particular stock number. Additionally, a report is available ondemand that shows all of the exceptions and fuel histories for thoseexceptions occurring within a given time period.

5. Fraud Indicator: Fuel Cost Exceeds Voucher Amount

As previously mentioned in the reconciliation process, upon the returnof a voucher from the operator authorized fueling station, the vouchernumber, dollar amount of purchase and gallons of fuel pumped is enteredinto the fuel management system. If the dollar amount of purchaseexceeds the amount issued, this indicates an unauthorized quantity offuel has been dispensed by the authorized fueling station. The fuel costexceeds voucher amount fraud indicator detects these exceptions andimmediately alerts dealership management utilizing active alert methods.Additionally, a report is available on demand that shows all of theexceptions that occur within a given period of time.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the present inventionprovides an effective fuel management system for both inventoried andnon-inventoried vehicles which provides valuable controls, auditing andfraud detection procedures.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to make various changes,alterations and modifications to the invention described herein. To theextent such changes, alterations and modifications do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of the appended claims; they are intended to beencompassed therein.

1. A fuel management system for dispensing fuel to vehicles in a vehiclefleet comprising: (a) a database containing vehicle identification andindividuals authorized to issue fuel vouchers and individuals authorizedas recipients of fuel vouchers; (b) a computer program for receivingrequests for vouchers, said program accessing the database upon arequest key entered to validate the request by confirming the authorityof the requestor and the identification of the vehicle and fuelrecipient prior to validation; and (c) means for issuing a voucher uponconfirmation.